Hausa Tales and Traditions

Book excerpt: Originally published in 1969, this book is a translation of Frank Edgar's Hausa folk stories, which was made primarily in Sokoto Province at the direction of Major John Alder, who in 1910 gave Edgar some Hausa texts written in the Ajemic script for transliteration into Roman characters. Edgar prepared the the first volme of the Tatsuniyoyi for publication in 1911. The Hausa whose folklore Edgar recorded so industriously are the largest ethnic group in Northern Nigeria and number many millions and these tales of past events show how Hausa conceive the histories of their states, the characters of their rulers, and their institutions of government and law. These traditions are thus equally important as documents of folk thought and as historical sources.